The fields are bare, the leaves have fallen from the trees, and the skies are going gray and cold. It is the time of year when the earth has died and gone dormant. Every year on October 31 (or May 1, if you're in the Southern Hemisphere) the Sabbat we call Samhain presents us with the opportunity to once more celebrate the cycle of death and rebirth. For many Pagan traditions, Samhain is a time to reconnect with our ancestors, and honor those who have died. This is the time when the veil between our world and the spirit realm is thin, so it's the perfect time of year to make contact with the dead.

Depending on your individual spiritual path, there are many different ways you can celebrate Samhain, but typically the focus is on either honoring our ancestors, or the cycle of death and rebirth. This is the time of year when the gardens and fields are brown and dead. The nights are getting longer, there's a chill in the air, and winter is looming. We may choose to honor our ancestors, celebrating those who have died, and even try to communicate with them. Here are a few rituals you may want to think about trying for Samhain -- and remember, any of them can be adapted for either a solitary practitioner or a small group, with just a little planning ahead.

Halloween, or Samhain, was the Celtic New Year before the advent of Christianity in Ireland. For an hour the gates of the Otherworld opened and thosse dead could once more live among the living, look in on family, or settle old scores with enemies. Masks were worn to confuse evil spirits, and the tradition spread to the New Wrold and around the globe with the Irish, Scots and Manx diasporas. Stories of spirits, the bean sidh - banshee, the púca - pooka and other creatures of the otherword contunie to scare and entertain to this present day.

"Samhain Upon Us"

For an hour they walk among usForefathers, who now are deadThe gates the otherworld closedAre for an hour open insteadSome look upon their familiesTo show that for them they still careBut there are other spirits freeWith worse intent, on the loose there!

A spooky night it is to comeStart and end of the Celtic YearMasks worn confusing evil spiritsGames played, a time of good cheerDont fear the dead: only an hourFor which it is them they are freeThe dead, them they will not harm youOnly the living can, like me!!!

Wiccans and Pagans have an animal companion that they consider their familiar. A familiar is part of the family. A familiar is often defined as an animal with whom we have a magical connection. If an animal has appeared in your life unexpectedly -- such as a stray cat that appears regularly, for instance -- it's possible that the animal may have been drawn to you magickally!